The present invention relates to a remote maintenance system for maintaining an industrial equipment installed at a remote location.
Maintenance against a trouble in an industrial equipment requiring maintenance, such as a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus has been made such that, upon occurrence of a trouble, maintenance personnel instruct a countermeasure to an operator for the manufacturing apparatus through telephone or facsimile communication or directly visit a factory where the manufacturing apparatus is installed. This also applies to periodical maintenance.
Along with recent increases in investment in the semiconductor industries, the number of installed production equipments increases to cause a chronic shortage in maintenance personnel. To achieve a low cost, production sites have been distributed at domestic and foreign remote locations. Under these circumstances, it becomes more difficult to provide countermeasures against troubles and periodic maintenance. The distributed production locations result in distribution of information about maintenance of manufacturing apparatuses. This makes it difficult to perform centralized management of information. The experiences of past troubles cannot be effectively utilized.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to immediately and efficiently perform maintenance of industrial equipments installed at remote locations.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a remote maintenance system for maintaining an industrial equipment installed at a remote location, the system comprising monitor means for monitoring an operating state of one or a plurality of industrial equipments, and management means for managing maintenance of the industrial equipment while communicating information associated with maintenance of the industrial equipment with the monitor means through the internet.
Another aspect is attained by providing a monitor apparatus arranged on an industrial equipment side to constitute a remote maintenance system for maintaining an industrial equipment installed at a remote location, comprising, obtaining means for detecting occurrence of a trouble of one or a plurality of industrial equipments and obtaining status information representing a state of the trouble, and communication means for notifying, through the internet, a management apparatus for performing centralized maintenance management of the industrial equipment of status information obtained by the obtaining means, and for receiving response information sent from the management apparatus through the internet in response to notification of the status information.
In another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a management apparatus arranged on a vendor side to constitute a remote maintenance system for maintaining an industrial equipment installed at a remote location, comprising, communication means for communicating, through the internet, with each monitor means of at least one factory in which a monitor apparatus is arranged to monitor an operating state of at least one industrial equipment, and corresponding means for determining a countermeasure against a trouble on the basis of status information associated with a state of the trouble of the industrial equipment, which is received by the communication means from the monitor apparatus, and causing the communication means to notify the corresponding monitor apparatus of response information based on the determined countermeasure.
In still another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a remote maintenance method of maintaining an industrial equipment installed at a remote location, comprising the steps of, communicating, through the internet, maintenance information between a first vendor for supplying a first industrial equipment, a second vendor for supplying a second industrial equipment, a first factory in which the first and second industrial equipments are installed, and a second factory in which the first and second industrial equipments are installed, causing the first vendor to perform centralized maintenance management of the first industrial equipments installed in the first and second factories, and causing the second vendor to perform centralized maintenance management of the second industrial equipments installed in the first and second factories.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention with reference to be accompanying drawings.